Former University of Washington head coach Mike Hopkins is joining Mike Budenholzer's staff as an assistant coach with the Phoenix Suns. Hopkins and Washington parted ways following last season.

Hopkins was the Huskies head coach for the past seven years. Overall, he's coached in college basketball for over 30 years.

Budenholzer is putting together his staff, as he takes over the Suns. Former NBA head coach David Fizdale and longtime NBA assistant coach Chad Forcier will both be part of Budenholzer's staff in Phoenix.

The Phoenix Suns are coming off a disappointing season that saw them swept in the first round of the playoffs by the Minnesota Timberwolves. Despite being over the second apron, and limited in their ability to add outside talent, Phoenix has three priorities this offseason.

The Suns want to add a true point guard that can play 20-plus minutes per game. Phoenix went most of last season without a true point guard in their rotation.

The team would also like to add a young, athletic wing. The Suns relied mostly on veterans last year, after inking several players to minimum contracts.

Lastly, Phoenix would like to add a backup center to upgrade from Drew Eubanks. Last season, Eubanks was the primary backup behind Jusuf Nurkic.

As a second-apron team, the Suns are limited in how they can add talent this summer. Phoenix can re-sign their own free agents, sign draft picks and sign players to minimum contracts. The Suns can also make trades, but those trades are heavily restricted. Phoenix can't aggregate player salaries together. They also can't take back any more money than they send out in a trade.

Phoenix Suns guard Bradley Beal played through a misaligned septum in his nose from late-January onward last season. Beal caught an inadvertent elbow from Myles Turner of the Indiana Pacers on January 26. Beal then played several games with a mask on.

Following the season, Beal had surgery to realign his septum. Prior to the surgery, Beal talked about having problems breathing through the right side of nose.

The Phoenix Suns are expected to re-sign Royce O'Neale this offseason after acquiring him at the trade deadline from the Brooklyn Nets as part of a three-team trade. The Suns sent out three second round picks to acquire O'Neale.

"They're going to re-sign Royce O'Neale," said Brian Windhorst on The Hoop Collective Podcast. "That's going to get done."

The Suns have limited ways of upgrading their roster, which necessitates retaining the players they have acquired such as O'Neale and Grayson Allen, who was signed to an extension at the end of the regular season.

O'Neale is represented by George Roussakis.

Mike Budenholzer tried to hire Darvin Ham on his coaching staff with the Phoenix Suns, according to Marc Stein of The Stein Line.

Budenholzer ended up convincing David Fizdale to stay on the staff once talks with Ham fell through. 

The Warriors also reportedly attempted to hire Ham on Steve Kerr's coaching staff. 

The Phoenix Suns are hiring Chaisson Allen as an assistant coach on Mike Budenholzer's staff, sources told Michael Scotto of HoopsHype.

Allen was the head coach of the G League's Wisconsin Herd.

David Fizdale will remain with the Phoenix Suns in a prominent assistant coach role.

Fizdale was hired by the Suns on the coaching staff of Frank Vogel last offseason, but had initially been expected to exit the bench.

The Suns hired Mike Budenholzer as head coach this offseason to replace Vogel.

Bronny James will work out for the Phoenix Suns ahead of the NBA draft in June.

The Suns own the No. 22 pick in the draft and James is among the players under considerations at that draft slot.

James has received over 10 workout invitations, but is expected to only visit a few teams including the Suns and Los Angeles Lakers.

Rich Paul recently went on record that James will not sign a Two-Way deal coming out of the draft.

“Yes, that’s absolutely true,” Paul said when asked about the two-way deal. “Teams know that. I’m not doing that.”

The Phoenix Suns announced that their new G League affiliate will be called the Valley Suns. The team will begin play with the 2024-25 G League season.

Phoenix sold their G League affiliate to the Detroit Pistons ahead of the 2021-22 season. Suns CEO Josh Bartelstein was part of making that acquisition happen for the Pistons. Now, he's on the other side of bringing a G League affiliate back to the Suns organization.

“Ironically enough, I was the one on the other side buying the team from the Suns and getting it to Detroit, and now three years later, I’m here,” Bartelstein laughed. “It’s really, really important. I mean, the G-League is a staple of many NBA franchises.”

The Suns had been the only team without a G League affiliate. The Portland Trail Blazers launched the Rip City Remix last season, leaving Phoenix the lone unaffiliated NBA franchise.

The G League now has 31 teams. The Mexico City Capitanes are the only unaffiliated G League team, as G League Ignite has ceased operations.

Assistant general managers Morgan Cato and Trevor Bukstein will not return to the Phoenix Suns next season, sources told Michael Scotto of HoopsHype.

The Suns hired Matt Tellem to the front office earlier this offseason.

The team also hired Mike Budenholzer to replace Frank Vogel this summer.